Dale R. Detlefs 1927 - 2009

DETLEFS

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 7/1/2013 at 10:00:57

Sioux City Journal
22 November 2009

SIOUX CITY -- Dale R. Detlefs, 82, a resident of Louisville, Ky., for nearly 50 years, formerly of Sioux City, died Nov. 14, 2009, in Charlotte, N.C.

Memorial services will be 1 p.m. Dec. 12 at Middletown Christian Church in Louisville.

Dale R. Detlefs, one of five children, was born on a farm in South Dakota, and grew up in Sioux City, where he was active in sports and worked throughout high school to help his family through the Depression. In December 1944, at age 17, he graduated from Central High School and immediately joined the U.S. Navy. Within a few months, he was selected for officer training, attending the Navy V-12 program at Wisconsin, DePauw and Purdue, and received his commission as an ensign.

After discharge from active duty, he remained in the Navy Reserve to complete 20 years of service, retiring as a lieutenant commander. He commanded Navy vessels as a reservist on trips to Cuba, the Mediterranean and other foreign sites.

He completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) in 1947 and entered the University of Iowa Law School, receiving his J.D. in January 1950, at age 23, the youngest and also the top-ranked graduate of his class. He moved to Davenport, Iowa, where he worked initially for a business and estate tax consulting firm, joined Prentice-Hall Publishing and later took a labor law position with Bendix Aviation.

In 1956, he moved to Louisville as the salaried employee relations manager for American Air Filter (AAF), then the largest industrial firm founded and headquartered in Kentucky. While there, he earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in business from the University of Louisville, and for 20 years taught human resources classes in the evenings at U of L, primarily in the graduate school of business.

In 1973, he founded a new business providing information services on Social Security and Medicare. He left AAF in 1974 to become a vice president with Meidinger Co., a Louisville-based compensation and benefits consulting firm, where he founded their Social Security business unit. They merged in 1984 with William M. Mercer and he became a partner. While there, he grew the Social Security division into a multi-million dollar business which became the primary private source of information on Social Security in the U.S.

His initial publication is in its 37th Edition. He was quoted on Social Security matters in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other prominent publications, and testified at Congressional hearings in Washington, D.C. He was a founding member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and was chairman of the Social Security Committee of the Association of Private Pension & Welfare Plans.

In Louisville, he was an active civic and community leader. He served as chairman of the U of L Business School Board, president of the Louisville Personnel Association and as a board member of the Louisville Urban League and the Louisville Red Cross. He was a member of Middletown Christian Church and a longtime member of the Rotary Club, where he was president of the Sunrise East chapter, a Paul Harris Fellow and hosted visiting foreign Rotarians. In 1966, he became the first member of the new Hurstbourne Country Club and was the first president of the club under member ownership. He was an avid golfer, tennis player and was very active in the club for nearly 40 years. Other passions included foreign travel, attending class reunions, the Louisville Cardinals and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

He moved to Charlotte, N.C., in 2005, with his wife, the former Doris Goodknight.

In addition to Doris, he is survived by two siblings, Lorraine Jones of El Cajon, Calif., and Jim of Castle Rock, Colo.; his three children, Paul (Katie) of Glenview, Ill., Ann Minch of Louisville, and Bill of Washington, D.C.; three stepchildren, Cathy, Lisa and Charles; and 13 grandchildren.

He was preceded in death earlier this year by his brother, Darwin.

No words can adequately express the family's appreciation for the professional, compassionate and very personal care provided by Pat McMackin and her loving staff at the Carriage Club Memory Care Unit in Charlotte. The comfort and support provided by Hospice was also invaluable to the family during the last phase of this journey.

In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to the Charlotte Alzheimer's Association, www.alz.org/northcarolina.

A memorial site has been setup at memorialwebsites.legacy.com/daledetlefs.